Jessica M Sunshine

My research centers on using spectroscopy to constrain the composition, origin, and evolution of various Solar System objects. I focus primarily on the mineralogy and morphology of comets, asteroids, meteorites, and the Moon, with occasional diversions to Mars and Earth environmental monitoring. I am the director of UMD's Small Bodies Group (SBG), a dynamic team of researchers and computer scientists dedicated to understanding comets and asteroids—the building blocks of planets—by analyzing telescopic and spacecraft data and archiving these data for future generations.

I have participated in multiple planetary missions, including the ongoing Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids and the Lunar-VISE rover, which will explore a volcanic dome on the Moon. Previously, I served as Deputy PI for the Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI) to comet Hartley 2, PS for the Dawn Mission at Vesta, and Co-I for the Deep Impact and Stardust NExT missions to comet Tempel 1 (which included the first planetary-scale impact experiment), Moon Mineralogy Mapper, and DART (which successfully demonstrated that a kinetic impactor can alter the orbit of threatening asteroids). I was also the PI for the Comet Hopper (CHopper) mission, one of three finalists in the 2012 Discovery mission selection.

Before joining UMD, I spent ten years at SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) in the Advanced Technology Applications Division, where I served as Chief Scientist and a member of the Corporate Science and Technology Council, working on Earth and planetary remote sensing projects.